Joshua's superhero cake

My Joshua loves parties. I mean... a lot. He has been planning his party for several months. Picking the theme was easy, Superheros. The first thing he picked out was his cake. He would have me look online at cakes until he decided on just the right style. We ended up doing a mix of several cakes simply because I was not about to make a three tier b-day cake for a 5th birthday party.

I learned a lot doing this cake. Both good and bad. I wish I had taken more pictures of the bad but maybe documenting my mistakes will insure I don't make them again.

Look at this beautiful filling. When Josh said he wanted Strawberry cake for one of the layers I was thrilled to try a new recipe. I found online a recipe from sprinkle cupcakes. I tweaked it a little and it came out looking beautiful! Recipe to come.

Hear was mistake number one, to much filling. Did you know if you put to much filling you will create a nice bulge in the side of the cake that can not be fixed unless you take all the frosting off and start again? The lady at the local cake decorating store explained it to me like this. "When you have fat (excess) on your body their really is no way to cover it up. no matter how many layers you put on over the top of it". I think I tried smoothing it out 3 different times by adding more frosting but to no avail until I had to re-frost it.

Why did I have to re-frost it you ask? While I was at the gym my sweet 2 year old took a handful out of the cake. My husband was very cute about the whole thing. When he told me he said, "I have some news for you and you could take it as good or bad" He knew I was not pleased with the way the frosting had come out and this was I could start over. He helped out by cut a nice slice out of the cake and had it for breakfast. We turned it into a stage for the bad guy to have a place to stand.

So I guess that was a failure turned success.
I used the viva paper towel method again and I am such a believer now. I have learned that part of getting a cake really smooth is having a thick, but not to thick, frosting. That helps a ton. Store bought stuff on it's on is to soft and sticky and just doesn't seem to stay put. I have added powdered sugar to store bought to get the right consistency when I am in a hurry.

Another thing I learned was that when layering cakes you really always do need support. Even if it is a small cake. When I put the top layer on it was to heavy for the bottom layer and caused the cake to sink a bit in the back. I am not sure you can tell in this picture but I will always add support from now on.Those are comic book style buildings above and brick wall below. Turned out more like wood but it works. The brick wall was for Spiderman and the building for Batman. The clouds on the top layer were for Superman.

Joshua told me several times this was the best birthday cake ever. My mom says every cake is better with toys on it and I think Joshua could not agree more. He didn't even care that he couldn't play with his presents until after we ate the cake.